The Maughan Theory
by Scribbles21
Summary: This story is about a young man named Paul Maughan. A brilliant scientist whose dream of finding another world has come true...Legolas and Merry are thrown into his modern world. A world they don't understand. Can Paul send them home or will he use them t


Disclaimer: I do not own Legolas, Merry or Middle Earth. I am sad now…):

Prologue

The wind blew violently as the winter snows of Northern England arrived to an ancient forest called Dunhollow. This forest was famous for it's huge old trees and it's many ties to local folklore and legends. It was December 31st on this particular day. New Years Eve and the beginning of the year 2002. A few miles away in the small rural village of Dunhollow, people watched on their tellies the clock counting down the last few seconds of the old year. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1!!" The town yelled, "Happy New Year!". At that moment the power went out in the town. The people of the town all stopped laughing and a hushed silence fell over them all. Then as if nothing happened the town's power came back on. Their T.V.'s blaring a test pattern. 

Chapter One: The Event.

Hundreds of miles away in London at the prestigious Pembroke College, a young man sat alone in a dark little room, computer screens flashing 0:00, announcing the new year. On the desk was an almost empty bottle of Absolute Vodka and in his hand was a shot glass filled to the top. The man's blood shot blue eyes looked at it and cleared his throat.

"Happy... fucking new year..." he said in a depressed, sarcastic voice and quickly downed the shot. The door to his room cracked open and a blond haired, blue eyed women quietly walked in. It was Lori, his colleague and friend. The young man heard her come in and didn't bother to lift his head away from his shot glass. In a small British accent she said, 

"I'm so sorry Paul, I just heard." she put a friendly hand on Paul's shoulder. Paul shifted and quickly moved away. He looked down and took a huge swig from the vodka bottle. 

"Paul...please don't do this to yourself! Your'er brilliant! You know that and so do I! It's just that...."

"They don't know that.." Paul said in a dark voice. It had been 4 years since he had left his home in New York and his teaching job at NYU, to take a four year research grant in England at the famous Pembroke college to continue his breakthrough work in energy fields and dimensional conjecture. It had been four years since he figured that rips in time were possible, considering that time and space time were one in the same....he hypothesized that there were different worlds connected to our own. Only that there was no way to get to them. Something would have to occur. And that something was the variable that Paul wanted to find...the key to his theories. 

The four years were up. Paul knew it was coming. His experiments kept getting more and more expensive and complicated. Lori had joined with Paul two years into the grant. She was a teacher at the college and also studied the same principles that Paul did. The sad thing was that Paul was on a break through. He found that the "event", he was looking for had a particular energy signature, a sequence of energy waves that caused a magnetic and gravitational disturbance. It was a very, very..very rare event. For it to happen twice, would be like seeing the second coming of Christ. He only needed a few more months to test his ideas. But that was not happening now. His money was gone and it was not being renewed. He was out of a job and a career, one he had been working on his whole life. 

"Paul..don't give up. Your ideas are going to change people's lives someday. You've just had some....bad luck." Lori said, holding back, hoping she wasn't saying anything that would make Paul suicidal.

"You don't..understand. This was my life...my passion for fuck sake! I was so close Lori..so close." Paul took another swig and bent his head down again feeling the vodka take it's wonderful affect. 

"Paul..your drunk. Let me take you home. Hell, if you got into an accident you would really be out of a job." She said trying to cheer him up. The result was Paul bursting into a drunken sob.

"They took everything from me! Stupid bastards!." He said fuming, throwing the bottle down onto the floor. 

"Paul! Paul, look at me!" Lori yelled, seizing Paul by his shoulders. Paul looked up, his eyes were glazed with tears and his face red from the vodka coursing through his veins. 

"You will show them. They will be teaching kids someday your ideas. You can't give up. Your very drunk now and I'm taking you home..if you give me any trouble I will kick your ass..and you know I will." Lori said in a threatening but sincere voice. 

Ten minutes later in the swirling snow, Lori had Paul in her car. He had passed out cold about half way to the car and Lori had to drag him to her small blue Neon. 

"You damn Americans..can't take your booze." She said as she clicked the seatbelt around Paul's awkward form. He moaned something inaudible and let his head hit the window with a small thud. After she buckled herself in and closed the car door she looked at her friend and shook her head. 

"I don't see a way out of this one, mate. Maybe luck will shine on our pathetic, drunk heads." She said as she started the car and drove out onto the dark, snowy road. 

It was 20 minutes later that the snow storm had escalated in intensity and was at a full blown blizzard. Frustrated, Lori pulled over on the side of the road and slid to a stop. 

"Great..now we can sit here...waiting for the snow to consume my car..actually this is good..eh?" Lori said to her passed out friend. 

"I hear freezing to death is a very pleasant experience." She said laughing to herself, really feeling somewhat panicked.

It was good deal of time when Lori made a sound. The snow had completely covered the windshield and windows. The darkness and the sound of the wind blowing fiercely made Lori feel even more spooked. Paul was still out cold. Her breath made ghostly clouds in the cold air. 

"I think this is the worst New Year Day I have ever experienced." She said as she looked over to her sleeping friend. 

"But it's not as half as bad as yours, eh, Paul?" Lori asked in a sarcastic voice. Paul didn't bat an eye and drooled on the vinyl seat.

"Oh God...might as well turn the heat on until the engine blows..." She said as she turned the ignition on. The car roared to life and the heat came on full blast, filling the car with warmth. At the same time her radio came to life blasting rock music in the two people's eardrums. She quickly turned in down and looked over to Paul to see if he was awake...he was still fast asleep.

The song ended and a News Melody played in the background as a suave English accented man said..

"This is a 36.5 fm special news report" More important music played and faded away.

"Today, at approximately 11.59pm, near the rural village of Dunhollow a strange burst of light was scene over the forest of Dunhollow. Followed by the light was a surge of power failure to the small village, and caused televison and radio disturbance over a 100 mile radius. It lasted for mere seconds and T.V. and radio resumed their normal functions. Witnesses claim to have seen lighting before the burst of light but heard no thunder. Scientists claim that lighting during a snowstorm is not uncommon, but at the time it was not snowing hard enough to create the electrical energy needed for lighting. Lori seemed to feel that this radio station needed better cover stories. She reached out to switch the station.

"Bloody loonies..all of them." She said as she placed her hand on the knob. To her great surprise, Paul was sitting up looking like he had seen a ghost. His tense face had a strange twisted grin on it, a maddening grin that gave Lori a sudden chill. 

"What is it? Paul...?" She asked, frightened that Paul was still drunk and having a vodka induced dream. Paul nervously pulled her hand away from the nob and shushed her. He turned up the news program with a shaking hand.

"Local authorities say that the burst of light was a tree exploding from being stuck by lighting. Others say it was aliens....whatever it was, we hope you and yours have a splendid New Year." A happy holiday song played in the background and switched into a commercial for anti-depressants. Paul turned off the radio and looked stunned. Lori was frightened.

"Paul...Paul what is it?" She asked, not sure what to do. Paul looked at her with tears in his eyes. 

"It's happened...it finally fucking happened!" He said bursting into tears

"What's happened..what in the world are you talking about?!" Lori said in a worried voice, reaching for her bottle of pepper spray. 

"The EVENT, Lori. The EVENT!!!!" He said now laughing and crying, doing what looked like a touchdown dance in the car. Lori then quickly checked herself for being so brainless. Of course! The event they had been looking for. Why hadn't she seen it!? The energy burst..near the town. But how could they be sure it was the real deal? Paul had settled down just enough for him to speak.

"Get out women, I'm driving." Paul said in a serious voice. Lori stiffened up and felt she didn't trust Paul to drive.

"But your drunk...besides it's a blizzard out there, we'll get stuck."Lori said trying to keep her own excitement down.

"Out." He said, looking dangerous this time. Lori, not wanting to end her friendship, held onto the pepper spray and opened her door. The snow had stopped some time ago and the snow on the windshield wiped off easily. Paul bounced into the driver's seat and started to back up. Lori quickly scrambled to get into the car and barely made it.

"Lord! Wait for me!"She yelled as she slammed the door shut. Paul quickly looked over to Lori.

"Sorry Lori, but we have work to do." He said, eyes straining into the darkness. He pulled out a map from under the dash and tossed it to Lori. 

"Find Dunhollow." He said keeping his eyes on the road, pressing the gas down all the way. Lori ran her finger down red lines and green blotches and found a small black text reading "Dunhollow, population:20".

"Bingo." She said smiling. 


End file.
